Cigarette turn around apparatus



Dec. 29, 1959 G. DEARSLEY CIGARETTE TURN AROUND APPARATUS Filed Sept. 11, 1957 INVENTOR. GEORGE DEARSLEY ATTORNEY United States Patent G CIGARETTE TURN AROUND APPARATUS George Dearsley, Raleigh, N.C., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application September 11, 1957, Serial No. 683,419

6 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) The invention relates to an apparatus and method for turning tipped cigarettes end for end.

Mouthpiece cigarettes are presently made in cigarette making machines which discharge them side by side in two rows, onto a collector belt. The tipped ends of the laterally arranged cigarettes in one row facethe tipped ends of the latterally arranged cigarettes in the adjacent row. For packaging purposes, it is desirable to have the tip ends of both rows facing in the samedirection. It is therefore necessary to turn the cigarettes of one row end over end so that they will face in the same direction as the cigarettes in the adjoining row.

Various mechanical devices have heretofore been developed for turning cigarettes end for end in this manner. Some of these devices have been costly to produce, operate or maintain, or have handled the cigarettes in a manner whichhas damaged the cigarettes.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple cigarette turning device that will turn tipped cigarettes end for end without leaving any undesirable indentations on the cigarettes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a simple cigarette turning device that is so constructed that it may be made as an attachment suitable for use with existing cigarette making machines and wherein the cigarettes are closely gathered for the turn around operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cigarette turning device comprising two belts and a turn table so situated as to effect the turning of a row of tipped cigarettes 180, to turn the cigarettes in the row end for end wherein the cigarettes are obliquely or laterally conveyed.

A further object is to provide a turning device wherein the cigarettes of either row to be turned are accumulated obliquely in a slow moving turn around wheel and are discharged after being turned end for end onto a faster traveling belt either in a separate row or combined with the row that did not have to be turned end for end.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progresses. In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, like characters of reference have been-applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a plan view of my improved cigarette turn around apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my improved cigarette turn around apparatus.

My improved cigarette turn around apparatus may be used with any conventional cigarette making machine either of the type discharging cigarettes axially from a cigarette making machine or one which discharges the cigarette sidewise from the machine as shown in Fig. l of my copending application Serial No. 509,293, filed May 18, 1955.

The apparatus I have employed to illustrate the invention may be briefly described as follows:

Cigarettes to be turned end for end are discharged from a cigarette making machine onto an obliquely arranged belt 10 traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow. The cigarettes so discharged as previously mentioned may be received either axially or sidewise from a fluted drum 12 such as shown in my copending application referred to above. The cigarettes to be turned which are discharged from the drum 12 are guided by a curved chute 14 on to the belt it so that they lay side by side with the cigarettes previously deposited. It will be noticed that the cigarettes so discharged are obliquely arranged, as shown in Fig. 1, when conveyed on the turn around apparatus.

The belt 10 travels over a pair of pulleys 16 and 18,v and is obliquely arranged with respect to the angle of discharge which enables the oblique collection to be. achieved. The upper run of the belt is trained over the upper side of a turn around disc 20 traveling in the direc-. tion indicated by the arrow.

Guides 22 and 24 are provided for confining said cigarettes to an oblique arrangement so that this arrangement will be maintained when they have been stripped from the belt 10 by the curved portion 26 of the guide24 onto the disc 20.

The cigarettes are confined between the guides 22 and 24 as they travel around in oblique arrangement on the disc 2%. When they have traveled on the disc 20- they are discharged onto the collecting belt 28 while they are still maintained between the guides 22 and 24 in oblique arrangement. The belt 28 is trained over pulleys 3t) and 32 and the upper run of the belt 28 travels under the opposite of disc 20 (Fig. 2) in the direction indicated by the arrows so as to thereby facilitate receiving the cigarettes from the disc 20. When the obliquely or: laterally arranged cigarettes approach the discharge end of the belt 28 they come in contact with a curved exten-. sion 34 of the guide 22. The curved extension directs the leading cigarettes onto the collector belt 36 which travels in the direction indicated by the arrow.

It will be noted in Fig. 2 that the disc 20 and the belts 10 and 28 are arranged at a slight incline in the embodiment used to illustrate the invention to facilitate the re-' ceipt and discharge of cigarettes by the .type machine.

shown in my copending application. If the fluted drumthem pile upon each other and at a speed slow enough so as to maintain the cigarettes in adjacent oblique arrangement. The disc 20 is supported on a shaft 37 connected to a conventional gear box 40 which has two out-put shafts 42 and 44 extending there-from, one shaft being driven in one direction and the other shaft being driven in the opposite direction. Gear box 44 is suitably driven from the main drive of the machine, pulleys 46 and 48 are fixedly mounted on shafts 42 and 44 respectively. The pulleys 46 and 48 drive pulleys 5t and 52 by means of suitable belts 54 and 56. The pulleys 50 and 52 are fixedly mounted on shafts 58 and 60. The pulleys 32 and 16 are mounted to rotate freely on suitable shafts 62 and 64.

The shafts 42, 44 and 62 and 64 are supported in suittable bearing brackets (not shown), which are connected to a framework (not shown) which also supports a center shaft 37. This framework is secured through the frame of the cigarette making machine with which the turn around device is used.

in the embodiment used to illustrate the invention the conventional collector belt 36 of the cigarette making machine is of a width suflicient to collect two rows of cigarettes. The cigarettes discharged from the cigarette making machineare so disposed as mentioned heretofore that the mouth piece ends of adjacent cigarettes face in opposite directions to each other. Therefore, one of the adjacent cigarettes has to be turned end for end to make the mouth pieces of all of the cigarettes face in the same direction. l

' My present invention is readily able to do this with either a cigarette machine collecting cigarettes in a single row or with a machine collecting cigarettes in a double row. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 two rows are employed for collecting cigarettes and in this case the belt 28 terminates at its discharge end on the outer portion of the belt. Where a single row of cigarettes is to be accumulated the alternate cigarettes are conveyed in oblique fashion by my turn around device and the belt 28 is of a suificient length so as to discharge the cigarettes which have been turned around by my device on top of theinner area of the collector belt 36 which has received the cigarettes which did not have to be turned end for end.

-It will be apparent from the foregoing description that I have provided an improved turn around device which is capable of operating at a very slow rate of speed, because of the oblique arrangement employed which enables the conveyor area to be fully occupied by the cigarettes being conveyed. This has the advantage that the disc 20 and the belt 28 and can travel at a much slower rate of speed than was heretofore possible.

This comparatively slow rate of travel does not require the speed of the cigarette making machine to be decreased or operate at any rate less than full capacity and at the same time avoids damaging the cigarettes due to impacts and deceleration or acceleration of cigarettes as occurs with other types of cigarette turn around devices. This structure in effect acts somewhat like an accordion in that all of the conveyed cigarettes being turned around are brought into close side by side proximity to each other when being turned around and are conveyed sidewise thus decelerating the rate at which they have to move during the actual turning process to keep up With the speed of the cigarette making machine. This improved turn around device may be readily employed with any conventional cigarette making machine and may be used for collecting cigarettes in either single or double rows.

The invention hereinabove described may therefore be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many possible embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the'precise details of the structure shown and described.

. What 'is claimed is: 1. In a cigarette machine, a turnabout apparatus for turning cigarettes end for end comprising, a cigarette machine, a collector belt, a rotating disc, 21 pair of spaced parallel belts traveling in'opposite directions and obliquei a source of supply of cigarettes which have to be turned end for end, a belt obliquely arranged with respect to said source of supply for receiving said cigarettes therefrom in closely arranged oblique arrangement, a dlsc positioned to receive obliquely arranged cigarettes from said belt, a second belt positioned parallel to the obliquely arranged belt for receiving obliquely arranged cigarettes from said disc after they have been turned 180 and delivering them to said collecting belt.

3. In a cigarette making machine a discharge device for delivering cigarettes one at a time which have to be turned end for end, an endless belt for receiving said cigarettes obliquely with respect to the longitudinal arms of said belt, a disc traveling under a portion of said belt, a guide for directing the obliquely arranged cigarettes from said belt onto said disc While maintaining said cigarettes in oblique arrangement, a second belt traveling below said disc for receiving obliquely arranged cigarettes and delivering them onto said belt, a third collecting belt for receiving cigarettes that have been turned end for end, and a guide for directing said obliquely arranged cigarettes from said second belt onto said third ly arranged with respect to said collector belt and having the upper run of one of said parallel belts passing over the top of said disc and traveling in the same direction as the surface of the'disc over which it passes, the other of said parallel belts having its upper surface traveling under and in close proximity the peripheral surface of said rotating disc, and in the same direction as the side of said rotating disc under which said belt passes, a source of supply for delivering cigarettes to be turned to the first of said belts, means for driving said belts and discs at a speed causing cigarettes to travel side by side in oblique arrangement on said belts and discs to effect a turning of said cigarettes 180.

2. In a cigarette making machine a collecting belt for to one another in an oblique arrangement, a rotating disc having a portion of the upper surface of the disc rotating under the upper run of said belt, and rotating at the same speed thereof, side guides for directing the cigarettes on said belt onto said disc while maintaining said cigar. rettes in oblique arrangements, a second belt having the upper run thereof traveling under and in the same direction as the periphery of the opposite side of said disc, and a guide for directing said obliquely arranged cigarettes from the discharge end of the belt onto the collecting belt.

5. In a cigarette making machine, a source of supply for discharging pairs of axially. aligned cigarettes, a wide collecting belt for receiving a row of cigarettes having the axis arranged side by side and the filter tips thereof facing all in the same direction, an obliquely arranged belt positioned to receive a row of obliquely arranged cigarettes having their axis positioned parallel to each other, a disc extending under a portion of said belt, a guide for guiding said obliquely arranged cigarettes from said belt onto said disc in oblique arrangement, a second belt for receiving said obliquely arranged cigarettes from said disc after they have been turned end for end by said disc, and a deflector for delivering said obliquely arranged cigarettes from said second belt one at a time in a row onto said wide collecting belt, said disc and said oblique belts traveling at a linear rate of speed less than the speed at which the cigarettes are discharged from said source of supply.

6. In a cigarette machine, a turn around apparatus for turning cigarettes end for end comprising, a cigarette collecting belt, a cigarette machine frame work, a discharge station for discharging cigarettes to be turned end for end, a pair of spaced parallel belts traveling in opposite directions and obliquely arranged with respect to said frame work, a rotating disc for receiving obliquely arranged cigarettes from one of said belts and delivering said obliquely arranged cigarettes to the other of said belts after they have been turned the upper end of one of said belts passing over the top of said rotating disc travelingin the same direction as the peripheral surface of said disc over which it passes for receiving rate of speed causing cigarettes to accumulate and travel cigarettes to be turned from said source of supply, the side by side in oblique arrangement on said belts and other of said parallel belts having its upper surface travdiscs to efltect a turning of said cigarettes 180.

eling under and in close proximity to the peripheral surface of said rotating disc and in the same direction as the 5 References Clted the file of thls patent side of said rotating disc to receive obliquely arranged UNITED STATES PATENTS cigarettes therefrom and to deliver cigarettes onto said 961,193 Wood June 14, 1910 collecting belt, means for driving said belt and disc at a 2,534,954 Dalton Dec. 19, 1950 

